Hades 2 beginner's guide: Top tips to maximise your first few runs
Here are our top tips for beginners playing Hades 2
Looking for Hades 2 top tips for beginners? Hades 2 can be a bit of a minefield, especially if you haven't played the first Hades or are unfamiliar with rogue-like dungeon crawlers.
It isn't necessary to play Hades before Hades 2. In fact, there are many new systems the sequel introduces with a new protagonist, Melinoe. Whether you're a returning fan looking for tips to tackle the new systems or it's your first time playing a Hades game, we have you covered with a list of top tips to help you through your first few runs.
Arcana Cards
You'll need a steady supply of Ashes to unlock new Arcana Cards in Hades 2. These cards are essentially extra buffs.
We recommend aiming towards the Eternity Card first, as it will give you one Death Defy each run. This will essentially save you from death and put you back to 40% Health and Magick.
It's a crucial ability to pick up fast and is the 12th Arcana Card. This means you will need to unlock a card from the first and second row first. You'll also need a good pool of Grasp to equip multiple Arcana Cards at once (indicated via Melinoe's portrait in the top right corner of the Arcana Card menu).
Upgrading Grasp requires Psyche, another resource you can get from runs or from exchanging Bones with the Wretched Broker. You can also get a large amount of Psyche from using the Tablet of Peace to recruit lone shades.
Prioritise Tools
Unlock the 'Night's Craftwork' Incantation at Hecate's cauldron in return for one Moly (a bright yellow flower that can be picked from Erebus). This will allow you to unlock these initial tools at the sigil opposite Schelemeus:
- Silver Spade: Requires Silver x10. Dig for Mystery Seeds. These can then grow into different rare plants.
- Rod of Fishing: Requires Bronze x1, Fabric x2. Fish can be traded for Bones.
- Crescent Pick: Requires Ash x1. Can be used to gather Silver from ore.
- Tablet of Peace: Requires Psyche x5 and Silver x5. Can be used to recruit Lone Shades which gains a large sum of Psyche.
We recommend you focus on the Crescent Pick first, as it's the easiest to initially unlock and will allow you to collect Silver from ores. Silver can then be used to unlock the Silver Spade and is needed for virtually all of the initial weapon unlocks.
The Tablet of Peace is a great second option as you should be able to gather enough Psyche and Silver to unlock it after a run or two. Then you'll have the ability to gain lump sums of Psyche and upgrade your Grasp fairly early on.
Concentrate on resource gathering on initial runs
Even the most seasoned rogue-like players will struggle to beat the bosses in their initial runs. With Incantations, Arcana Cards, tools and weapons to unlock, it's better to focus on resource gathering for your initial few runs.
We recommend concentrating on Bones to both unlock and buy rarer resources from the Wretched Broker. His store can be unlocked via the 'Summoning of Mercantile Fortune' Incantation at Hecate's cauldron for 10 Bones.
You can then upgrade his store to stock even rarer components, like Nectar. This is important for both improving relationships and unlocking Keepsakes (more on this below).
Ashes and Psyche are also important to collect early to unlock and equip more Arcana Cards.
Always confide in Frinos
This little froggie fella is adorable and deserves chin scratches. Later in the game, you can recruit familiars which will give you an extra boost and can even gather resources for you.
You can form relationships in Hades 2 with the Pantheon and wayward spirits. It's worth conversing with them at the start of each run as this is how you'll get little pieces of lore and also how you'll track the development of your relationships.
There is an in-game way of seeing how many hearts you've earned with characters but this comes a bit later and will require you to get to the third area, past the first two bosses first.
Incantations
Incantations are spells you can concoct at Hecate's cauldron. This will unlock after your first run and new Incantations will show up on your menu as you progress. To brew these spells requires different ingredients.
The first three Incantations we recommend focusing on are:
- Night's Craftwork: Allows you to unlock tools for gathering more resources.
- Summoning of Mercantile Fortune: Unlocks the Wretched Broker's shop where you can exchange Bones for other resources. Once upgraded with the Kinship Fortune Incantation, he will stock more exotic items like Nectar.
- Fated Intervention: Unlocks The Fated List which offers side-quests.
More Incantations will become available as you brew and go on runs. We also recommend the Woodsy Lifespring Incantation as this will summon a safe area occasionally during a run. In this area, you get to revive lost health at a pool and there are usually one or two resources to gather. This can literally be a life-saver during a run and offers a nice little reprieve. Plus, there's a cute cat you can pet in the area.
These safe areas are disguised behind a Sigil so there's no way of knowing when they'll pop up. You'll additionally gain whatever the Sigil on the door was for free.
Dont worry about picking the right Boons at the start
Each God has a host of Boons that will randomly rotate. You can only pick one of three. These can then combine with other God's Boons and scale with rarity.
Don't worry too much about the 'right ones' as you're just starting to figure out which playstyle you like and this will likely change with each run. Aim to try a mix of them all and figure out the combinations that work best for you.
If in doubt, check out our best Boons list for a guide of all Boons potentially on offer and what we found works best for us.
As a rule of thumb, you can also prioritise the rarer Boons. These will be labelled as such (from common, rare, epic, legendary to heroic) and highlighted in the rarity colour. There will usually be a choice between improving Attacks or Casts, choose whichever you're using more of.
The Fated List
The Fated List is a set of mini-quests you can fulfil for useful rewards like Nectar, Bones and more. As such, it's a good idea to unlock The Fated List as early as possible, so you can tick the quests off as you go along. A lot of these quests are ones you'll naturally progress through as you play, such as The Invoker quest which asks you to brew 10 Incantations.
To unlock The Fated List, you must first brew the Fated Intervention Incantation at Hecate's cauldron and wait to be approached by Moros.
Gifting and Keepsakes
Certain characters can be given Nectar to increase their relationship with Melinoe.
When gifting Nectar to gods, aproach their symbol and choose the 'Gift' prompt before accepting a Boon. Make sure you give the Nectar before accepting a Boon as the option to do so will dissapear otherwise.
Certain Gods and merchants like Arachne are trickier than others to get their Keepsakes as they will only appear in random encounters or as you progress through the main story. Look out for Artemis, Hermes and Primordial Chaos in particular and make sure you have at least one Nectar on hand at all times in case you run into them.
Luckily, Nectar isn't as rare in Hades 2. Nectar can be purchased from the Wretched Broker in return for 30 Bones and will usually restock after every run. Otherise, you can collect Nectar from completing Nectar Sigils on a run.
Usually, characters will give you a Keepsake in return for an initial gift of Nectar. Keepsakes are an additional way of adding buffs to your run and can be swapped out each time. To do so, interact with the crate opposite the weapon pool.
Keepsakes will level up and increase their bonuses the more you use them on runs. We recommend giving Nectar to Dora first, to get the Ghost Onion Keepsake. This will allow you to heal in between locations for up to 50 health initially and can be used multiple times until you reach that total. This is a tremendous buff to get early on in a Hades 2 playthrough and should help you as you get your bearings in Erebus.
Schelemeus should also be a priority as he will gift you the Luckier Tooth which is essentially an extra death defy.
That rounds off our top tips for Hades 2 beginners. For more Hades 2 content, see our guides to the best Boons, best weapons and more.